By: Representative Dan Knodl – 24th Assembly District, Wisconsin State Legislature
One of the most important lessons from the last several decades of criminal justice policy is surprisingly simple: communities are safest when laws are enforced consistently and wrongdoing is addressed before it escalates.
In the 1990s, cities across America embraced the idea that public safety requires more than simply responding to the most serious crimes. Graffiti, vandalism, theft, trespassing, public disorder, and other quality-of-life offenses were no longer ignored. While experts continue to debate every factor that contributed to falling crime rates, there is little debate that many communities became safer when government demonstrated that laws would be enforced and bad behavior would have consequences.
That lesson seems to be getting lost.
At a time when many Wisconsin families are concerned about retail theft, drug trafficking, repeat offenders, and violent crime, much of the criminal justice reform agenda in Madison has focused on improving conditions within correctional institutions, expanding inmate benefits, increasing compensation for inmate labor, limiting the use of solitary confinement, and creating additional opportunities for sentence reductions and early release consideration. Supporters may view these proposals as rehabilitation measures, and many are undoubtedly well-intentioned. However, the broader trend is difficult to ignore. Too often, the conversation begins with what government owes offenders rather than what it owes victims and law-abiding citizens.
Unfortunately, too many policymakers today seem more interested in explaining criminal behavior than preventing it.
Earlier this session, legislation was introduced that would have allowed certain offenders who committed crimes before age 18 to petition courts for sentence reductions after serving portions of their sentences. Other proposals sought to revisit long-standing sentencing decisions and create additional pathways for offenders to seek relief from penalties that were lawfully imposed. Reasonable people can disagree about individual cases, but lawmakers must always remember who our justice system is supposed to protect first: law-abiding citizens and victims of crime.
Government’s first responsibility is not to make incarceration more comfortable. It is to make our communities safer. When elected officials spend more time debating the comfort of inmates than the safety of neighborhoods, they have lost sight of the government’s most basic responsibility.
This debate is not merely theoretical. Wisconsin has recently seen renewed controversy surrounding commutation requests from violent offenders, including individuals convicted of some of the most serious crimes imaginable. Families who lost loved ones decades ago should not be forced to repeatedly relive those tragedies because policymakers have become more concerned with the rehabilitation of offenders than the rights of victims. Victims deserve to know their voices will be heard and their interests considered whenever decisions about release or sentence modifications are being made.
At the same time, we continue to see examples of growing disrespect for law enforcement and the rule of law itself. When people openly dismiss criminal conduct as insignificant or suggest there should be few consequences for wrongdoing, it sends a troubling message. A healthy society depends on broad respect for the law and for the officers who put themselves at risk every day to enforce it.
Public safety does not require choosing between compassion and accountability. Wisconsin can support rehabilitation while also recognizing that actions have consequences. We can provide second chances where appropriate while still standing firmly with victims. We can support law enforcement while demanding professionalism and integrity.
But we should never forget that safe communities are built on accountability. Neighborhoods thrive when citizens know that laws will be enforced, victims will be protected, and public officials will place the interests of law-abiding families ahead of those who choose to break the law.
That principle worked a generation ago, and it remains just as important today.
